I currently am playing at a plus 1 handicap, but not consistently. Since the USGA handicap is a measure of a golfer's potential (the best 10 differentials from the most recent 20 rounds are used to calculate handicap), not an average, I feel that my handicap is much lower than the current state of my game.
I do not know when I step out on the first tee if I am going to shoot 69 or 80.
I do post good numbers 68-74 about half the time from 7000+ yards, but I have far too many bad rounds in between the good rounds. I do not like to think about "the swing" at all while playing, and that serves me well when I am striking it purely, because I can focus all my attention on the targets and distance control. However, I had a bad experience this weekend in a 36-hole event where I was barely able to break 80 and I felt like I had no idea where the ball was going. I was hitting the ball all over the clubface (mostly heelers), blocking to the right with the driver and over-compensating and hitting clubface pulls with the short irons.
How should low handicap players bring TGM to the course effectively?
What do you better players do when the wheels fall off to keep the round from getting away from you?
Would focusing on the imperatives help? Rhythm? Steady head?
I'm not sure yet man. I'm still kinda figuring things out myself.
Imparitives? Essentials? That's about as quick and important as you can get.
I know that I can pretty much always hit punch shots solidly...so sometimes I do that. I've just re-discovered hitting. I've been practicing with it more and am really starting to like it. Very easy once you understand it...trace straight plane line back and mash down on the ball. I couldn't get over the fact that it feels like the clubface is closed on the backswing...but now I understand that it opens through the ball because of spine tilt away from the target. Big thing for me.
Basically, I just am finding that as my understanding of my golf swing and TGM is increasing, I am having less and less problems...and the ones I have I can diagnose much better. I understand lots now, I just need to ingrain it in more so it is habit.
I don't usually lose much lag...so if I'm off it is usually with plane...unless it's bad rhythm and too much tension (those come mostly from bad days and also just anxiety...I try to manage as best as possible. Learned that from Keygolf).
Personally, it has made a huge difference to me to just understand how hitters trace a straight plane line (on the ground) with the clubface whereas swingers trace a line that arcs. If I stay loose and have good rhythm and trace those respectively different lines (depending on whether I'm hitting/swinging) I can pretty much hit it straight...because I know my wrist alignments (also !very! important!!!) are always gonna be pretty good.
Sounds to me like a better mechanical understanding of your swing would help. Keep with it man it's worth it.
I've always felt that....the more that the wheels feel like that are coming off, the more you want the wheels to stay in contact with the ground right? If you launched your car off a hill with the lugnuts loose the wheels would come off on landing!
I feel the same with your golf swing, so here's my attitude and quote by the way:
"When it doubt, punch it out."
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I'm not a TGM or PGA certified Pro, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night
O...another thing that helps me is just accepting that you might not be able to have your best game that day instead of trying to force it if you don't have your swing. My general rule is that if I feel like I am trying too hard then I need to throttle back a bit rather than try to push forward. Maintenance of score rather than being agressive and trying to push forward. Read 'The Double Connexxion', by Carey Mumford if you want to read a good book.
You have to take into account how you're feeling, how you're swing's feeling, anxiety, etc. etc. etc. Some days are just 3/4 punch shot, "get it in play and up around the green" days. A punch shot is easy once you get it down.
I don't know how much you practice on the range but that will help hugely with confidence in your swing.
Vijay says something like: "Confidence doesn't come from winning- winning comes from confidence. Confidence comes from practice."
Also- sometimes, even when I have my mechanics right I just do not have it. Today on the golf course, I was bombing it off the tee (swinging, not hitting) until I hit a few hooks. I then started to get anxious (which really is normal considering my swing is still in a state of change and uncertainty). Then, when I tried to figure out this new swing, the wheels started spinning and I started to get tense.
But that's what happens when you are uncertain in some way- whether it be with mechanical understanding or from a lack of practice (and therefore trust). I realized that I have not practiced enough to trust my mechanics...and I still need to gain a better understanding of them to be absolutely sure they're right and that I can execute them. If I was serious about the round I would've just hit (as in the TGM definition of HIT...vs. SWING...) everything for the rest of the round because I have that pattern more engrained. Still working on my 'swinging' pattern, deciding which I want to be my main pattern, and where/whether I can integrate both of them at the same time.
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